ORR Rating Application

The Marion Bermuda Race requires that each yacht entering the race have a valid ORR Rating certificate from US Sailing. The process is different based upon whether you are renewing a past certificate or applying for a new one.

For Partially Measured certificates, owners are allowed to declare a subset of the complete measurement, while other parameters are assigned by the rating office. Where input data is lacking, the rating office will apply estimates from sister-ship data that err to a faster rating. Sail Measurement Certificate must be provided and can be completed by your local sailmaker. Partially measured certificates provide the easiest access to an ORR certificate and are popularly used for distance races and race series.

The Marion Bermuda Race requires a "Partially Measured" certificate which uses data from a sister ship as the bases for your rating. This is a much easier process than a "Fully Measured" certificate. Renewal process will be open soon. You will receive a notice when it is available.

If you are applying for a rating certificate for the first time, the process is now open, just click on the link below to begin. If you are renewing your ORR certificate, the portal to update your information will be open soon. You will receive an announcement from US Sailing when it is available.

Prepping the Celestial Boat for the Marion to Bermuda Race — Including the New AIS Rules

By Ron Wisner

Every boat owner has a winter “boat list” of projects and maintenance as the boat is being readied for the next season. However, if the owner is doing the Bermuda race, the usual winter’s “boat list” has doubled.

The celestial boat has some additional preparations that the other boats do not. Some of this additional preparation stems from the fact that we cannot use our electronic instruments. Other preparations come from the nature and practice of the actual navigation.

Safety at Sea Seminar Registration is Open

Registration is now open for a Safety at Sea Program that helps to prepare skippers and crew for the race. The Marion-Bermuda Race in association with the Marblehead-Halifax Ocean Race biennially offers a Safety at Sea Program that helps to prepare skippers and crew for the race. This program is March 9 - 10, 2019 at University of Massachusetts, Boston Campus. In addition to the sessions needed for certification there has been added optional sessions on Medical and Weather and Gulf Stream.

This SAS program fulfill the safety requirements for the Marion Bermuda race and are: At least 30% but not fewer than two members of the crew, including the Person-In-Charge and Navigator or a Watch Captain shall have attended a one-day or two-day US Sailing Offshore Safety at Sea Seminar. At least two members of the crew must hold a World Sailing Offshore Personal Survival Course Certificate. Any certificate obtained more than five (5) years prior to the start of the race or as a result of exclusively internet-based training will not be acceptable for the purposes of this paragraph. For Double Handed yachts, both members shall hold a World Sailing Offshore Personal Survival Course Certificate.

Conditions Adjustment to Marion Bermuda Race Scoring

The ORR handicapping system assumes that the wind will blow at a certain strength from varying angles for the duration of the race. Individual yacht’s polars then define how fast she should sail the course and the fleet is ranked against a fictional ‘scratch boat’. This assumption is ‘challenged’ by a variety of race specific climatic and oceanographic conditions. Ocean races of long duration will typically experience these varied conditions. Whether it is wind deflection and strength between inshore and offshore positions, the crossing of a known directional current or the historical location of a high pressure gradient, the likelihood of predictable conditions for an entire race is little to none. Because of these differences, the Marion Bermuda Race is attempting to take one of these conditions that has shown itself to be a real and consistent detriment to what one might feel is a fair race based solely on a boats handicap and include another factor that adjusts across the fleet. In the case of the Marion Bermuda Race (or any race to Bermuda) it is the Bermuda high pressure gradient.